The Resilience Roundup highlights announcements, events, and funding opportunities along with links to the previous month's local, state, and national resilience news.
|
|
Resilient Connecticut - Project Updates
|
|
Resilient Connecticut – COG
Partnership Meeting
CIRCA recently hosted a kick-off meeting with the regional Councils of Governments (COGs) located in Fairfield and New Haven counties.
West COG
,
Naugatuck Valley COG
,
Metro COG
, and
South Central Regional COG
will be working with CIRCA to inform the climate vulnerability assessment and resiliency planning efforts.
|
|
CIRCA hosts SAFR Meeting
On January 31,
State Agencies Fostering Resilience (SAFR
and CIRCA staff discussed the progress of the technical tools, long-range climate estimates, and the formation of a citizen’s advisory committee to be called the Resilient Connecticut Collaborative.
SAFR
is an advisory committee formed during the original Phase 1 grant application for the National Disaster Resilience competition over five years ago.
SAFR members include the following state departments:
- Department of Housing;
- Department of Energy & Environmental Protection;
- Department of Emergency Management and Homeland Security;
- Department of Transportation;
- Department of Economic and Community Development;
- Connecticut Insurance Department;
- Department of Public Health;
- Office of Policy and Management; and,
- Department of Administrative Services.
The mission of the SAFR State Agency Workgroup is to provide guidance to CIRCA on the development of the Resilient Connecticut Project; provide coordination with existing state agency planning efforts; and inform the development of the Statewide Resilience Roadmap.
|
|
CIRCA Releases Request for Qualifications
UConn CIRCA released a
Request for Qualifications (RFQ)
today for Engagement, Planning, Design, Architectural, Engineering Services for the Resilient Connecticut project. The purpose of this RFQ is to solicit proposals from interdisciplinary teams encompassing engineering, landscape architecture, applied ecology, planning, and engagement to perform the tasks necessary to complete a regional scale climate change vulnerability analysis and adaptation planning process in Fairfield and New Haven Counties, as well as provide stakeholder engagement and recommendations on the prioritization and selection of resilience pilot projects.
This planning process is funded through a competitively awarded grant from the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to the State of Connecticut (State) as an outcome of the National Disaster Resilience Competition (NDR). Grants shall be administered by UConn for the State. For questions relating to the RFQ, please see instructions contained within the RFQ.
|
|
Resilient Connecticut Webinar:
Climate Vulnerability Mapping for Municipalities
|
March 10, 2020, 10:00am - 11:00am
During this webinar, participants will learn about Resilient Connecticut's efforts to develop vulnerability mapping tools to inform the vulnerability assessment and resiliency plan for Fairfield and New Haven Counties. These efforts include: how mapping helps a community understand its vulnerabilities; mapping resources currently or soon to be available; and, how Resilient Connecticut is advancing climate vulnerability assessments for municipalities.
|
|
ASLA Conference
Risk and Resiliency: Adapting to Connecticut's Changing Climate
|
February 19, 2020, 8:30am - 4:00pm
Connecticut State Capitol Room 310
(210 Capitol Ave, Hartford, CT)
The
Connecticut Chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects is hosting an event that will focus on different climate impacts on Connecticut. Take-home messages include how communities can prepare themselves as well as how lawmakers can help fund common-sense solutions. Several speakers will give a presentation at this event, including CIRCA's James O'Donnell and Alex Felson.
|
|
Underwater Underwriting: Flood Insurance in the Age of Climate Change
February 28, 2020, 7:15am- 11:45pm
UMass Club
(1 Beacon Street, Boston, MA)
This EBC/UMass Boston Climate Adaptation Forum focuses on the intersection of flood insurance, risk management, and environmental justice. Speakers will discuss approaches to addressing the shortcomings of NFIP programs and policies, ongoing efforts to better incorporate climate change into the industry, and the unintended consequences that flood insurance reform could have for low income communities and communities of color.
|
|
Managed Retreat in the Age of Climate Change
|
March 20, 2020, 8:30am - 3:30pm
Mercy by the Sea
(167 Neck Road, Madison, CT)
When talking about community response to climate change issues, retreat is the "R" word. But it is already happening in coastal states throughout the country, including here in Connecticut. It bears the question; What does it mean to a community and how do we manage it? This workshop,
hosted b
y Connecticut Sea Grant and the UConn Center for Land Use Education and Research (CLEAR),
is intended to begin the discussion about managed retreat in the face of climate change.
|
|
Resilient Communities 2020 Request for Proposals
Wells Fargo and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) have partnered to create the Resilient Communities program. This $3 million per year program aims to help communities in the United States and territories, prepare, strengthen and bounce back more quickly after a disaster. In 2020, Wells Fargo and NFWF will invest approximately $3 million total in projects that provide adaptation through conservation, community capacity building and demonstration, and adaptation focused on affordable housing and small businesses.
Pre-proposals are due February 18, 2020 by 11:59 p.m. Eastern time.
|
|
January 2, 2020 -
Climate Change in New England: Can We Adjust, and How?,
NBC Boston
As damage from climate change continues to occur, it is important to understand these impacts, as well as how to change and adapt to the new climate "norms". NBC10's new weekly reports focus on these concepts in the New England area.
|
|
January 17, 2020 -
Climate Change Informational Talks For All Ages
,
Hartford Courant
Dr. Anji Seth, associate professor in the department of geography and CIRCA, recently gave the first talk in a three-part series regarding climate change. The first talk focused on the urgency of action, on both an individual and policy-wide level.
|
|
January 21, 2020 -
Report Emphasizes Importance of Communication in Climate Change Resilience,
UConn Today
In a recently published report by UConn Department of Communications Professor Carolyn A. Lin in partnership with CIRCA, the social and psychological impacts of climate change mitigation strategies in two coastal communities hit hard by Hurricane Sandy in 2012 were explored. The report concludes that in order for community resilience to thrive, proper communication must be present.
|
|
January 25, 2020 -
Free Seminars At Three Rivers CC On Environmental Issues,
Patch
Three Rivers Community College welcomes all to attend 14 free seminars on some of the biggest environmental issues challenging us today. Topics range from Bird Conservation to Approaches to Eating in the United States: Consequences for our Health and Environment and Global Climate Change to Our Ancient Culture, taught by a range of experts in their fields. Among these lectures include one by CIRCA's James O'Donnell on April 22nd.
|
|
January 3, 2020 -
Charleston And The South Carolina Coast Flooded Record 89 Times In 2019,
The Post and Courier
The National Weather Service reported Friday that a record number of coastal flood events — 89, on at least 76 individual days — occurred along the Southeast and South Carolina coast last year by an alarmingly wide margin.
|
|
January 3, 2020 -
Resiliency, Sea Level Proposal Emerges in House,
Florida Politics
On January 3rd, the House version of a Senate bill that establishes parameters for the statewide Office of Resiliency was filed. HB 1073, filed by California Republican Rep. Cyndi Stevenson, would create a Statewide Office of Resiliency in the Governor’s office and create a Statewide Sea-Level Rise Task Force.
|
|
January 16, 2020 -
Power Plant Emissions Down 47% Under The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative
, Yale Climate Connections
According to a 10-year report by the northeast regional advocacy group Acadia Center, emissions from the plants covered by RGGI are down 47% – outpacing the rest of the nation by 90%. The gross domestic product of the RGGI states, all in the Northeast and mid-Atlantic regions, also grew by 47% – again outpacing the rest of the country, which grew by 31%.
|
|
January 28, 2020 -
Deep Decarbonization: A Realistic Way Forward on Climate Change,
Yale Environment 360
Global emissions have soared by two-thirds in the three decades since international climate talks began. To make the reductions required, what’s needed is a new approach that creates incentives for leading countries and industries to spark transformative technological revolutions.
|
|
January 30, 2020 -
Massachusetts Senate Weighs "Net-Zero" Environmental Bills,
Westerly Sun
The Massachusetts Senate is debating a series of bills supporters say will help dramatically reduce the state's greenhouse gas emissions over the next few decades. The package of bills envisions transitioning cars, trucks and buses to carbon-free electric power, jump-starting efforts to supply low-cost solar electricity to low-income communities, and requiring appliances meet energy efficiency standards.
|
|
The Resilience Roundup highlights
CIRCA's
presence in the news, provides links to recent local/state/national news articles related to resilience and adaptation, and announces upcoming events and seminars.
The Connecticut Institute for Resilience and Climate Adaptation's (CIRCA) mission is to increase the resilience and sustainability of vulnerable communities along Connecticut's coast and inland waterways to the growing impacts of climate change and extreme weather on the natural, built, and human environment. The institute is located at the University of Connecticut's Avery Point campus and includes faculty from across the university. CIRCA is a partnership between UConn and the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (CT DEEP).
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
